Aliko Dangote has acquired a 24.76 per cent stake in Kenya Pipeline Company (KPC) in a deal valued at approximately $327m, expanding his investments in East Africa’s petroleum distribution infrastructure.
The acquisition was announced on Wednesday at the Financial Times Africa Summit 2026 in London, United Kingdom.
Dangote, president of Dangote Industries Limited, said the investment was part of efforts to strengthen the transportation and distribution of refined petroleum products across African markets.
The transaction involved approximately 4.5 billion shares previously held by Kenyan state-linked institutions, making Dangote the company’s second-largest shareholder.
The acquisition comes as the group advances plans to establish a 700,000-barrel-per-day refinery in Lamu, Kenya, following the project’s groundbreaking in September.
Dangote said the group was also pursuing petroleum distribution projects in Djibouti, Ethiopia, Cameroon and Namibia, including storage facilities and supply corridors to improve access to refined products across the continent.
In East Africa, the group is developing a distribution corridor linking Djibouti to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia’s capital, with tank farms planned to support the storage and movement of petroleum products.
He also identified Namibia as a potential distribution hub for Southern Africa, saying the country could receive refined products shipped from the group’s refinery in Lagos.
“From our refinery to Namibia is just about four days of steaming,” Dangote said.
The proposed supply network would serve markets including Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe and South Africa.
The Kenyan refinery is expected to serve the region’s industrial and mining sectors, which require dependable supplies of diesel and other petroleum products. Dangote said the facility would source crude oil from multiple markets rather than rely solely on production from Kenya or Uganda.
Beyond the pipeline acquisition, Dangote disclosed that the group had earmarked $50bn for investments between 2026 and 2030 as part of its wider expansion and industrialisation plans.
He called on African governments to protect local industries against unfair foreign competition, warning that excessive dependence on imported products could weaken domestic manufacturing and employment.
Dangote also identified unreliable electricity supply as a major constraint on industrial development, particularly in mining and mineral processing, where inadequate power limits the capacity to process raw materials locally.
The acquisition gives Dangote a stake in an established petroleum transportation network as he pursues a broader strategy spanning refining, storage and distribution across African markets.